7 Guesses at What 2026 NFL Season Will Look Like

David Gonos 06:18 pm, June 10th, 2016

We’re less than 100 days away from the kickoff of the very first NFL game in the 2016 NFL season, yet I’m already looking even farther ahead.

I’m an old man, you see. I’ve drafted both Curt Warner and Kurt Warner on my Fantasy Football teams in different seasons, and I’ve been around long enough to remember the Raiders and Rams in L.A. the first time. I’m closing in on 45, and that has me nostalgic for yesteryear – and fearful of years to come.

It’s what old people do – gripe about the old days, and watch Fox News. (Well, hopefully, the latter never happens, and my love for cartoons returns in my later years instead.)

So as I look a decade ahead, and I wonder what the 2026 NFL season will look like, I first look back to see what has changed since the 2006 NFL season. In this season, Monday Night Football became a Cable TV show for the first time ever. Brutal. Mike McCarthy and Sean Payton took over as the Packers and Saints head coaches. Awesome! Peyton Manning would win his first Super Bowl! Sweet! The Browns would finish fourth in the AFC North for the fourth straight year. (Sounds about right.)

What Will the 2026 NFL Season Look Like?

1. No More Kickoff or Punt Returns

Since concussions and CTE crippled man NFL players and the NFL itself (landmark lawsuit of 2020), the league finally decided to take some huge steps in eliminating as many concussion-opportunities as possible.

The most violent play of the game – a kickoff return – was officially eliminated, with teams getting the ball on their own 25-yard lines.

Unfortunately, this also meant TV revenue would have to be made up by the elimination of all those commercial breaks. So the NFL gave each team a fourth timeout in each half. Whewwwww! The greedy little fellas almost missed out on that opportunity!

Photo Credit: Patrick Smith, Getty Images

2. WWE Takes Over Production of the NFL Draft

Gone are the days when the commissioner would read off the college player names of those selected by NFL teams. Now, we’ll see hip-hop celebrities and hype men announce who their team has drafted.

Fireworks will explode from behind them and dancers will fill the stage, as each round will get its own day, from Thursday night through Monday (just five rounds in the draft now).

Photo Credit: Kena Krutsinger, Getty Images

3. Washington Monuments Win Another Super Bowl

After battling the politically correct universe that has overtaken our world, the Redskins finally changed their mascot name to the Monuments, using the many buildings and legendary people that have graced our country’s capital through the years.

While Native Americans shrugged their shoulders about the name change, as most of them didn’t care to begin with, the new name has turned into a cash cow for new Redskins owner Ted Lerner, who now owns the Monuments and the Nationals. (The NFL stopped caring about owners in multiple leagues as the game’s popularity began to drop.)

Photo Credit: Alex Wong, Getty Images

4. Great Big, Goofy Helmets

Concussions not only hurt the players and the game, but it hurt children aspiring to be like their heroes. But injuries suffered in high school and college forced many parents and families to persuade their children to play other sports.

While soccer has many concussions too, the numbers do not indicate they have grown into the dangerous numbers of the NFL.

In 2024, soccer overtook NASCAR, college basketball and the NHL to become the fourth-most popular sport, behind Major League Baseball, the NFL and the NBA, who have all leveled off.

Much like boxing in the ‘80s and ‘90s, parents started steering their kids away from such a violent sport, and into one that gave them more peace of mind, while also affording the child plenty of competitive opportunities.

Meanwhile, after about two months, no one cared anymore, and thousands of lives were affected for the better.

Photo Credit: John Biever, Getty Images

5. Suspensions Equal to Same Time Injured Player Misses

As the NFL continues to their trend toward safety, in hopes of bringing back some of the fans they’ve lost in the past 10 years, they have decided to suspend a defender for as many games as the player he injured during an illegal hit.

In all honesty, this was a rule that should have been implemented years ago. Yes, unfortunately, it makes defenders play the game more cautiously, and some tackles have been missed, and long touchdowns have happened as a result and oh yeah, why am I talking like this is a bad thing?

If a player is knocked out for his career, then the player that hit him has to sit for at least a year.

Photo Credit: Joe Robbins, Getty Images

6. London Football Teams Start Missing Home

Two teams in London are already looking for new homes back in the states, as the NFL realized they overreached just a bit, and their popularity started dwindling the instant they announced the new teams in Great Britain.

As much as they thought it was a no brainer, having Ben Roethlisberger as a head coach in London just didn’t sell the tickets they expected it would, bringing “Big Ben” to Big Ben.

It’s like when a person found out they just closed on the purchase of their brand new four-bedroom house in 2007, only to start hearing references about a housing crisis.

Photo Credit: Harry Engels, Getty Images

7. Raiders Move Back to Oakland

After their ninth year in Las Vegas, the Raiders decided they needed to move back to Oakland.

While it was a sweet deal, moving out to the desert and away from the below-average stadium conditions they suffered in Oakland, the Raiders decided to give Oakland ONE MORE TRY! This would be their third stint there, of course. But in Vegas, they found that very few people rooted for them, since tourists had their home teams, and whoever lived there was a transient from another state, with former ties that still held strong. (See South Florida.)

The real irony is that owner Mark Davis bet the Raiders would end up moving back to Oakland – and he won that prop bet!

But can Oakland really support two teams, now that the Rams relocated there from L.A. in 2024?

While we don’t know what’s going to happen in the next 10 years, and these guesses are probably a little more over-the-top than what will really happen, it’s fun to think about.

1. No More Kickoff or Punt Returns

Since concussions and CTE crippled man NFL players and the NFL itself (landmark lawsuit of 2020), the league finally decided to take some huge steps in eliminating as many concussion-opportunities as possible.

The most violent play of the game – a kickoff return – was officially eliminated, with teams getting the ball on their own 25-yard lines.

Unfortunately, this also meant TV revenue would have to be made up by the elimination of all those commercial breaks. So the NFL gave each team a fourth timeout in each half. Whewwwww! The greedy little fellas almost missed out on that opportunity!

Photo Credit: Patrick Smith, Getty Images

2/7

2. WWE Takes Over Production of the NFL Draft

Gone are the days when the commissioner would read off the college player names of those selected by NFL teams. Now, we’ll see hip-hop celebrities and hype men announce who their team has drafted.

Fireworks will explode from behind them and dancers will fill the stage, as each round will get its own day, from Thursday night through Monday (just five rounds in the draft now).

Photo Credit: Kena Krutsinger, Getty Images

3/7

3. Washington Monuments Win Another Super Bowl

After battling the politically correct universe that has overtaken our world, the Redskins finally changed their mascot name to the Monuments, using the many buildings and legendary people that have graced our country’s capital through the years.

While Native Americans shrugged their shoulders about the name change, as most of them didn’t care to begin with, the new name has turned into a cash cow for new Redskins owner Ted Lerner, who now owns the Monuments and the Nationals. (The NFL stopped caring about owners in multiple leagues as the game’s popularity began to drop.)

Photo Credit: Alex Wong, Getty Images

4/7

4. Great Big, Goofy Helmets

Concussions not only hurt the players and the game, but it hurt children aspiring to be like their heroes. But injuries suffered in high school and college forced many parents and families to persuade their children to play other sports.

While soccer has many concussions too, the numbers do not indicate they have grown into the dangerous numbers of the NFL.

In 2024, soccer overtook NASCAR, college basketball and the NHL to become the fourth-most popular sport, behind Major League Baseball, the NFL and the NBA, who have all leveled off.

Much like boxing in the ‘80s and ‘90s, parents started steering their kids away from such a violent sport, and into one that gave them more peace of mind, while also affording the child plenty of competitive opportunities.

Meanwhile, after about two months, no one cared anymore, and thousands of lives were affected for the better.

Photo Credit: John Biever, Getty Images

5/7

5. Suspensions Equal to Same Time Injured Player Misses

As the NFL continues to their trend toward safety, in hopes of bringing back some of the fans they’ve lost in the past 10 years, they have decided to suspend a defender for as many games as the player he injured during an illegal hit.

In all honesty, this was a rule that should have been implemented years ago. Yes, unfortunately, it makes defenders play the game more cautiously, and some tackles have been missed, and long touchdowns have happened as a result and oh yeah, why am I talking like this is a bad thing?

If a player is knocked out for his career, then the player that hit him has to sit for at least a year.

Photo Credit: Joe Robbins, Getty Images

6/7

6. London Football Teams Start Missing Home

Two teams in London are already looking for new homes back in the states, as the NFL realized they overreached just a bit, and their popularity started dwindling the instant they announced the new teams in Great Britain.

As much as they thought it was a no brainer, having Ben Roethlisberger as a head coach in London just didn’t sell the tickets they expected it would, bringing “Big Ben” to Big Ben.

It’s like when a person found out they just closed on the purchase of their brand new four-bedroom house in 2007, only to start hearing references about a housing crisis.

Photo Credit: Harry Engels, Getty Images

7/7

7. Raiders Move Back to Oakland

After their ninth year in Las Vegas, the Raiders decided they needed to move back to Oakland.

While it was a sweet deal, moving out to the desert and away from the below-average stadium conditions they suffered in Oakland, the Raiders decided to give Oakland ONE MORE TRY! This would be their third stint there, of course. But in Vegas, they found that very few people rooted for them, since tourists had their home teams, and whoever lived there was a transient from another state, with former ties that still held strong. (See South Florida.)

The real irony is that owner Mark Davis bet the Raiders would end up moving back to Oakland – and he won that prop bet!

But can Oakland really support two teams, now that the Rams relocated there from L.A. in 2024?

While we don’t know what’s going to happen in the next 10 years, and these guesses are probably a little more over-the-top than what will really happen, it’s fun to think about.